How Shon Kokoszka closed at least 50 FSBOs a year with a four-script pop-by

Shon Kokoszka00:00

95 percent of your success in working with for sale by owners can be mindset. So if you’re that person who’s sitting there saying, “Well, that all sounds good and fine, but I could never call for sale by owners because they’re just gonna hang up on me.” Well, my input to you is a question, and that is why the heck are you being so judgmental?

00:14Shouldn’t it be up to them whether or not you’re bothering them?

Loida Velasquez00:23

Welcome to a brand new episode of Vulcan 7 Coaches and Mentors, where we bring to you some of the best in the industry to share with you their tips and strategies so that you can implement in your business immediately. Now on today’s episode, we’re gonna be talking about a lead source that perhaps you might be afraid of going after, or you have seen other agents have success.

00:43You probably drive around your neighborhood and you see these, and these are the for sale by owners. So get your pen and paper ready. Get ready to take a lot of notes. And with that being said, I’m gonna go ahead and bring on today’s guest, Shon Kokoszka. Welcome, Shon.

Shon Kokoszka00:57

Loida, thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be with you guys.

Loida Velasquez01:00

Yes, we love having you back. We’ve had you previously. We talked about expireds. Now we’re gonna talk about for sale by owners. But before we get into that, for anyone that’s watching that maybe is not too familiar with you, go ahead and give us a little bit about your background.

Shon Kokoszka01:14

Well, sold over 4,000 homes in my real estate career.

01:17I started when I was 21. That was 33 years ago, so go ahead and do the math. Learned a thing or two about for sale by owners, expired listings, and yeah, the partnership with Vulcan7 is just a perfect partnership, because I can bring some seat-of-the-pants experience to the table for you guys.

01:36There was never a year that we didn’t close at least 50 for sale by owners, and I just wanna share with you the psychology behind making that happen. Now, beyond that, I was former president of Keller Williams MAPS Coaching, and we built the largest coaching and training company real estate has ever seen.

01:53I’ve consulted for organizations like McDonald’s, Panasonic, FedEx, Worklips, GMC, Pepsi, to name a few of them, and the highest producing agents and teams, even brokerages, on the face of this planet. So I’ve been around the block a time or two. I only say that to give them a reason to maybe wanna listen to me, Loida.

02:10Yeah. Yet I do that humbly, of course. And let’s dive into for sale by owners. So Loida, do you have any specific questions, or do you just want me to just let ’em have it?

Loida Velasquez02:20

Well, first, I’m glad that we’re talking about for sale by owners because, you know, I know when I got started in the business, for sale by owners kind of terrified me a little bit, because I’m like, “They’re probably gonna yell at me.

02:31They’re gonna tell me they don’t need an agent.” So I’m sure that there’s a lot of agents watching this that are like, “You know what? I would love to go after that for sale by owner, but I don’t know if I’m ready.” So let’s start there with maybe the mindset.

Shon Kokoszka02:43

Yeah. So the rumor is they eat their young, right?

02:45I mean, they don’t want to hear from realtors. Of course they don’t, because they have this vision of selling their property without paying any commission whatsoever. So the second they hear that you’re a realtor, what do they wanna do? They wanna cuss you out. They wanna hang up on you, or at least that’s the perception.

03:01Yet 95% of your success in working with for sale by owners is gonna be mindset, okay? Now, we all have what I call a MIC. Now, MIC is an acronym. M-I-C, it stands for my inner cynic. So if you’re that person who’s sitting there saying, “Well, that all sounds good and fine, but I could never call for sale by owners because they’re just gonna hang up on me.”

03:22Well, my input to you is a question, and that is why the heck are you being so judgmental? I mean, shouldn’t it be up to them whether or not you’re bothering them? See, you’re pre-judging the situation. You’re judging that they’re going to hang up on you. Well, if that’s your perception, that’s probably what’s gonna happen, because what you focus on expands.

03:41No doubt about that. Yet when you engage with my methodology, you’re gonna find that for sale by owners are just people like you and I who choose to accomplish a goal, and that goal in their current mindset is to sell their house without paying a commission. Now, I’m gonna teach you specifically how to psychologically shift their mindset to enthusiastically want to list with you.

04:00And so that’s what I wanna talk through today. We’re gonna talk through lead-in scripts, we’re gonna talk about objection handling skills, and then we’re gonna get to what I call a problem presentation. Because for sale by owners will rarely set a listing appointment with me or with you. So what you do is you set a pop-by to take great notes on the property, compare it to the needs of the buyers that you’re currently working with.

04:24See, setting an appointment with a for sale by owner is one of the easier things you’ll ever do in your career. Now, what you say during the appointment makes all the difference in the world. So, if it’s okay with you, Loida, I wanna give them meat per minute. We’ve only got a couple of minutes. So let’s dive in, and how do you set an appointment with a for sale by owner?

04:46Well, really it’s that simple. Ninety-five percent of anything is just showing up. So if it were me, I would say, “Hi, I’m Shon Kokoszka with eXp Realty, and before you hang up on me, I just wanna let you know that I’m a buyer specialist, meaning seventy percent of my business is spent working with buyers.

05:03And I have many buyers, not enough listings to show them, and I’m just curious, when can I stop by your property, tour your home, and take great notes, compare the features and benefits to the needs of my buyers? Is it generally mornings or afternoons? What’s best?” See, it’s just a direct ask. And generally speaking, this is when you’re gonna get the objection, “Well, I’m not gonna pay a commission.”

05:24“Well, I totally understand that. A very direct question for you. If I were to bring you an offer from one of my buyers that’s acceptable to you, would you accept that offer from my company?” “So I’m not gonna pay a commission.” “Well, let me rephrase that question. If I were to bring an offer from one of my buyers that’s acceptable to you, would you accept that offer through my company?”

05:47Now, mind you, I didn’t change a single word to the question. I just simply emphasized, “that’s acceptable to you, would you accept that offer through my company?” Meaning that the commission could be put on top of the offer price, a buyer might pay my commission, yet the offer net-net must be acceptable to the seller.

06:07Now, when dealing with a reasonable person, and most of them are, believe it or not, reasonable, they will say, “Yes, I’ll accept that offer through your company.” “Fantastic. So again, when is the best time for me to stop by, preview your property, take great notes, compare the features and benefits of your house to the needs of my buyers?

06:23Is it generally mornings or afternoons?” So again, setting the appointment, that’s the easy part. Now, what you say when you show up makes all the difference in the world. So you do what you said. You stop by at the appointed time. You take great notes. You ask questions. You focus on building rapport. It doesn’t hurt to compliment them about this or that either.

06:42Make them feel good. See, they don’t care about us, but they do care about how they feel when they’re with us. I think you would agree with that. Then once we feel that we’re in rapport, we’re gonna share with them four different scripts, and the first one is what I call the… And by the way, I name most of my scripts, by the way.

07:00This one I call the single greatest advantage script. So once you’re in rapport, you say, “You know, Mr. or Mrs. Seller, let me just quickly ask, what is the single greatest advantage of you selling your house all on your own versus listing with a professional realtor?” Now you know the answer. It’s to save the commission.

07:18Okay, I understand that, yet let me ask, what is the single greatest advantage for a buyer to buy a for sale by owner rather than work with a professional realtor? I mean, is it possibly to save the same commission that you hope to save? Now that word possibly kind of softens it a little bit, and there’s no commitment to them saying yes.

07:35So you generally get an “I understand where you’re coming from” kind of a response. Then we’re gonna segue and say, “Well, Mr. and Mrs. For Sale By Owner, you know, there are four different types of buyers in the marketplace today, and I think it would be beneficial. Do you mind if I tell you about them?” Now they’re always kind of curious as to what’s going on in the market, so generally they’re gonna say yes.

07:57You say, “Well, the first type is the first time home buyer, then we have the motivated buyer, then there’s the investor, and finally, we have what I call a lookie lou. Now, the first time home buyer, you know, they’re anxious, they’re timid. It’s the largest investment of their life, and they don’t wanna make a mistake.

08:14Let me ask, do you think they’re gonna go out all on their own, unrepresented, calling upon for sale by owners, touring the property by themselves, writing their own contract? Or do you think they might go to a professional realtor, somebody who’s done it four thousand times in his career? Probably a professional realtor, would you agree?

08:32Okay, so let’s talk about the investor. Now, I’ve attended real estate investment seminars where the speaker, the trainer, actually trains investors how to prey upon for sale by owners. They’ll ask you questions like, ‘What if I could close by the end of the month? Will you come down on your price?’ Or, ‘What if I pay all cash?

08:48How low will you go?’ Then, of course, there’s the motivated buyers. Now, we all want them. Their home just went under contract. They got two days to find a replacement, or they could lose the deal. Or maybe they’re a relocation buyer. Their employer flew ’em in just for the weekend, and man, they gotta go, go, go till they find the right house.

09:05Do you think they’re gonna go out all on their own, driving through neighborhoods, looking for for sale by owner signs, or calling the FSBOs directly and setting their own appointments, again, one at a time? Or do you think they might go to a professional realtor, somebody who could show ’em thirty homes a day if necessary till they find the right one?

09:22Probably a realtor, would you agree? All right. Now let’s talk about the fourth type of buyer. They’re the lookie lou. For some crazy reason, Loida, HGTV is just not enough for these guys. They love looking at real estate with no intention to buy. They’re gonna say things like, ‘Well, let me speak with my lender.

09:38I’ll call you back.’ Or, ‘Let me sleep on it. I’ll call you in the morning.’ Right? And you never hear from them. So out of these four different types of buyers, there’s really only one that buys for sale by owners. And while investors are great, they wanna buy your home for ten cents on the dollar. I kinda look at it like this.

09:55We’re gonna go into script number three. Let’s say you go into a jewelry store, and you wanna buy a brand-new watch. You see it right there in the case. You can tell it’s never been worn before. You’d probably expect to pay retail price for that watch. Agreed? Now, let’s take that same watch that you just bought.

10:11Let’s take the receipt showing what you paid for it. Let’s tape it to the top of the box, and let’s put it in a garage sale. You’d probably expect to fetch far less than the retail jewelry store, wouldn’t you?” See, anytime you buy direct from an owner, well, we just expect a better deal. Now the fourth script, which is why the National Association of Realtors states that the average for sale by owner receives twelve percent less than those that list with a professional.

10:37Now let me ask, are you familiar with what I do to get homes sold quickly for top dollar? Well, luckily I’m here. Now let me kind of unpack what we just did, okay? There’s a psychology behind this, and I want you all to either imagine or draw this out. Maybe you draw a box that’s six inches by six inches, and then you draw a vertical line right down the center and a horizontal line right down the center to create four equal size boxes.

11:02Now, in the upper left-hand box, I want you to write in two words, and that is positive present. And I’m referencing their current mindset. They’re in a positive present mindset. They’ve got their plastic sign that they bought at Lowe’s or Home Depot, and they took a Sharpie and they wrote in their phone number and all of that, and they put it in their front yard.

11:21They believe that their current actions are going to get them the result that they want, or the positive future that they seek. So go ahead and write in positive future in the upper right-hand quadrant. And again, we’re talking about mindset, right? Now, I think the challenge and mistake a lot of agents make, Loida, is that they wanna take this for sale by owner from a positive present mindset to a more positive future mindset.

11:44Meaning, well, you can try to sell it yourself, yet if you list with me, you’re gonna get more money in your pocket. I’ll do it in a shorter period of time. See, that’s positive present to positive future, and that’s not how we change somebody’s mind. It doesn’t work that way. What we have to do, through a problem presentation, is move them psychologically from the upper left-hand quadrant downward into the negative present mindset box.

12:09So in the lower left quadrant, write in negative present. We’ve got to open the door of doubt within their mind, meaning if I keep doing what I’m doing, I might not achieve this positive future that I’m after. And from a negative present mindset, then we’re gonna shift them laterally to a negative future mindset. Now, once we get them to a negative future mindset, then it’s all about the positive future, which is listing with you.

12:34So through those four scripts, you know, the single greatest advantage, what we’re doing is we’re allowing them to self-discover that their current actions are not gonna get them to the positive future that they seek. Then we outline the four different types of buyers. The serious buyers, well, they’re gonna go to a Realtor anyway, so at a minimum, you’re gonna get them to agree to pay your co-op commission.

12:59Now, once you’ve outlined then the jewelry store watch script, you push them to the negative future, which is why the National Association of Realtors states that for sale by owners receive 12% less than those that list with a professional Realtor. And then the close becomes quite simple. “By the way, are you familiar with what I do to get homes sold quickly for top dollar?”

13:22Now, what you’re doing is you’ve created a listing opportunity by setting a for sale by owner pop-by. Is this making sense, Loida?

Loida Velasquez13:31

Yep.

Shon Kokoszka13:32

And so by leading in with the problem scripts, helping them self-identify that maybe they have a problem, they’re gonna be more open-minded to potentially listing with you at this point. So questions, Loida, concerns, challenges, poke holes.

13:48Let’s have some fun.

Loida Velasquez13:49

Yeah. Yes. So let’s say you set up that preview, go and take a look at the house. What would be the next step? Because there might be an agent that’s thinking, “Well, do I do a presentation? Am I setting a follow-up appointment? Like, what do I do now?”

Shon Kokoszka14:05

Yeah. Oftentimes it’s gonna segue right into a listing appointment, right from your for sale by owner pop-by.

14:10Now, there are times that you’re gonna find that they’re under time constraints, they can’t do it with you right then and there. Of course, we’re gonna be respectful of their time, and what I would do is just focus on scheduling your next appointment, which would in fact be a listing presentation.

14:26So you get to the point where you say, “Luckily, I’m here right now.”

14:30After you ask the question, “Are you familiar with what I do to get homes sold quickly for top dollar?” They say, “Well, no, I’m not.” “But luckily I’m here right now. Do you have just 30 minutes? I’d like to walk you through my marketing plan. I’d like to walk you through what I call my quote unquote listing presentation, to help you get what you want when you want it.”

14:50If they say, “Now’s not convenient,” fantastic. “Tell me what day of the week generally works best for you, where I’d be interrupting you the least? What day of the week works? And mornings or afternoons?” Just focus on scheduling the appointment.

Loida Velasquez15:04

And then when you’re with them at the home, at the pop-by, are you pre-qualifying or asking additional questions, or what does that look like?

Shon Kokoszka15:13

Yeah. Well, not at the point of the problem presentation yet. If I can convert them to a listing presentation during the pop-by, then yes, there are 24 pre-listing qualifying questions that I’ll sit down and ask them. It’s questions like, “Are you interviewing more than one agent for the job of selling your house?”

15:32A lot of agents freak out and say, “Why would you ask them that? Aren’t you just planting the seed that they want to interview other agents?” Well, would you rather know that now, or would you rather be surprised when you see somebody else’s for sale sign in their front yard? See, when you understand the answer to that question, you can posture and you can modify your presentation to address that concern right then and there.

15:52And then you can use high-pressure closing strategies to get that listing contract signed. For example, “If you sign with me right now, and this deal is only on the table until I walk out that door, I’m gonna do it for this much commission,” right? So high-pressure tactics if they’re interviewing other agents for the job.

16:10You might just throw them a bone, give them a slight little discount or something like that, if necessary, and only if necessary.

Loida Velasquez16:17

Yeah. No, this is awesome. Hopefully, everyone that’s watching is taking notes, and they’ll definitely have to replay this a few times if they want to master the for sale by owners.

16:28Now, I’m sure there’s probably an agent watching this, and they’re probably thinking, “Well, you know what, Shon? I don’t have buyers. I don’t have any buyers that I’m working with, so what do I say in that case?”

Shon Kokoszka16:39

Well, I would lean on your colleagues, no doubt about that. I mean, most of you are aligned with a brokerage that has agents who have buyers.

16:47Just ask some of the higher producing agents, “Give me your top five buyers. I wanna go out and find them something they can buy off market.” And what are their criteria? What are they looking for? And then you find the for sale by owners that match that. You can find buyers.

17:02Getting buyers is simple. I mean, all you have to do is advertise houses, you get buyers. Now, getting listings, that’s something substantially more profoundly difficult, no doubt about that, which is where Vulcan 7 comes in, guys. Everything starts with list building. If you don’t know who you’re gonna call, you’re probably not gonna call anyone.

17:20By the way, if you don’t know what you’re gonna say and how you’re gonna say it, even if you knew who to call, well, you probably wouldn’t call anyone. So I would encourage you to practice. Practice your scripts, your dialogues, your objection handlers. What that does is it raises your level of competence, leads to a higher level of confidence, then it impacts your mindset in such a powerful way.

17:42And, you know, for sale by owners, they smell fear, kind of like dogs and bees, right? They smell fear. And if you’re not confident in what you’re saying, they will eat you alive, I promise you. So practice to get the competence, leads to higher level of confidence, and strengthens your mindset in the process.

18:02So guys, I just encourage you, go back and listen to this, master those four simple scripts, and you’ll create a listing appointment out of a simple pop-by, by giving a problem presentation.

Loida Velasquez18:14

Yeah. And I think along with that also, I would say comes patience, because maybe some of these for sale by owners, it’s not gonna be on the first time that you meet with them that they’re going to list.

18:25So can you touch a little bit on maybe how long it usually takes for these for sale by owners to convert, just based on your experience?

Shon Kokoszka18:33

Yeah, generally speaking… By the way, I failed to mention that if I couldn’t convert them right then and there, I’m gonna ask what I call the money question. “Okay.

18:41So Mr. or Miss For Sale By Owner, you’re familiar with what I do to get homes sold quickly for top dollar. Tell me, how long have you given yourself to sell your house on your own before you’d consider listing with me?” So they might say, “Well, I just wanna give it through the weekend to see if we might be able to snag a buyer and not pay a commission.”

19:00“I totally get it. Let’s do this. Let’s schedule a call for Monday. What time specifically do you want me to call you? Is it mornings or afternoons?” And then I would follow up. Let’s say you’re stuck in a follow-up sequence with these people. “Well, I’d probably give myself, I don’t know, five or six more weeks before I’d consider listing.”

19:17“Okay, fantastic.” So first off, I would encourage you to get to the emotional triggers. So let me ask, once you sell your house all on your own without paying a commission, what do you plan on doing with the extra money? So what are they planning to do? Are they looking to purchase another? By the way, if they are, then you could certainly start earning their business by providing them with the data necessary for them to really start educating themselves on the market.

19:43You might even take them out and show them a couple of homes, to find that rapport with them, to demonstrate your value. Yet, if you’re in that follow-up sequence, I would encourage you, follow up every Monday. Put a time block in your schedule for a for sale by owner follow-up, and what you do is just say, “How was the weekend traffic?

20:01Did you have any buyers come through? Did you receive any offers? By the way, how long have you given yourself to sell your house on your own before you consider listing with a professional realtor? You know, last time I asked that question, you said you were gonna give it five or six more weeks, yet there’s probably a buyer out there right now who just doesn’t even know about your property, because you’re not in the multiple listing service.

20:21So what can I do today, right now, to earn your business?” I mean, just be direct with these guys. I think they appreciate it.

Loida Velasquez20:28

Yeah, absolutely. And everything that you have mentioned has been so great when it comes with for sale by owners. For those of you that are watching, you know, we have a previous episode where Shon talked about expireds, so we’re gonna make sure to link it so you can go ahead and watch that.

20:42Now, as we wrap this up, we’re getting close to the end of the year, starting a brand new year. If someone is like, “You know what, Shon? 2025, I’m gonna go after for sale by owners,” or even right now, what are the three things they need to be doing?

Shon Kokoszka20:57

Well, I’d say, number one, check out my Accelerated Breakthrough program.

21:01Guys, it’s a 16-week coaching and training program, one hour per week, live on Zoom meeting. You get a workbook the day before each session, assignments between sessions that are strategically designed to help you double, triple, even quadruple your production in real estate sales, where we cover for sale by owner and listing lead generation.

21:20We cover expired listings. We cover the listing presentation, the buyer presentation. You’re gonna get all the digital assets associated with my listing presentation. By the way, last year in production, Loida, I went on 162 listing appointments and I took 160 listings, so it’s a high conversion percentage when you use my presentation.

21:37You’re also gonna learn higher level topics like neurolinguistic programming, how to become more influential with your prospects, with your friends, your family members. It even applies to that. You’re gonna learn high level business planning strategy and tactics, where you build your annual business plan, break it down to a monthly and weekly business plan.

21:55You know, I participated and collaborated with Gary Keller and Jay Papasan in the writing of the book, The One Thing, so we’ve dedicated a full session to time and self-management. So if you’re that agent who has a hard time kind of self-motivating and getting things done, and you tend to procrastinate, you know, Accelerated Breakthrough is right for you.

22:16And, guys, it’s a one-time investment of just $347 for four months of coaching and training, plus we’re gonna give you over $10,000 worth of add-ons when you make the decision and engage with us. So go to iconcoaching.com. Just click on the Programs tab and check out Accelerated Breakthrough. Might not be right for you.

22:33Yeah, I’ll bet it is. Check it out when you get a chance, and thank you, Loida.

Loida Velasquez22:38

Yeah. No, it sounds like a no-brainer. Everything that an agent would learn through this, through the months that they would be in this program. Yeah, we’re gonna make sure to put your links in the description box below.

22:49And when did you say it starts?

Shon Kokoszka22:52

The next live launch of Accelerated Breakthrough is on November 21st. So that will be session one. We’ll skip the following week ’cause it’s Thanksgiving, but then you’re gonna go 16 weeks back to back. Of course, we’re gonna skip Christmas and New Year’s, and Hanukkah.

23:08Then we’ll just skip those two sessions, and then, you know, 16 weeks in total, 16 sessions. They’re all live. You can ask questions, get answers, and I just encourage you, check it out. It’s really phenomenal.

Loida Velasquez23:21

Yes. So visit iconcoaching.com, correct?

Shon Kokoszka23:23

You got it.

Loida Velasquez23:25

Awesome. Well, Shon, thank you so much for coming back.

23:27I know that we’re gonna continue having you on the show with more content, because agents absolutely need to learn everything that you teach. So thank you for being here, and for everyone that’s watching, we’ll see you on the next one.

Shon Kokoszka23:40

Bye. Thank you, Loida. Thank you. Bye.